Light of the Night: The Last Eighteen Months in the Life of Th'r'se of Lisieux [Paperback]

Jean-Francois Six (Author), John, John Bowden (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Paperback: 247 pages
• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0268013217
• ISBN-13: 978-0268013219
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,533,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Off the dashboards and into our hearts..., December 1, 2000

By 

no longer a customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light of the Night: The Last Eighteen Months in the Life of Th'r'se of Lisieux (Paperback)

Jean-Francois Six has given Therese back to the world. As a Carmelite contemplative living at the end of the 19th century, Therese was in the midst of a cultural and spiritual revolution as Faith began to give way to Doubt and Cynical Skepticism. Her struggle was to remain faithful to her mystical devotion to Christ in the midst of a world eager to find new, and even more dubious, devotions. Her solution: if you can't beat them, join them; not by discarding faith, but by allowing the full force of doubt to fill and break her heart in order to understand and feel kinship with the doubting world around her, making her an even greater Saint than the revised, silly, "canonized" version given by her sister, Mother Agnes, and the Church. Her courage was to stare down the night in loving trust that there would be a dawn...somehow. Whether you understand or agree with Therese's spirituality, you cannot help but admire her mature and courageous faith and her simple belief in the power of Love. This book takes her down off the altars and solidly in our hearts, where she would most want to be...

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Serious St. Therese of Lisieux Readers, November 2, 2001

By 

Kim (Lodi, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Light of the Night: The Last Eighteen Months in the Life of Th'r'se of Lisieux (Paperback)

St. Therese's famous and flowery autobiography, Story of a Soul, was so heavily edited by her sister Pauline (Mother Agnes of Jesus), that it could be considered more Pauline's views of the future Saint's theology than St. Therese's, herself. After reading it, I was left still searching for Therese, herself, and her beliefs and theology. How did she become such a great Saint, so favored by Jesus?

Light of the Night, flawed by the author's anger at his rejection by the established Lisieux hierarchy, helped me to better understand Therese's depth, which was and is considerable. I found it to be quite helpful to me on my quest to understand St. Therese and her process.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A rethinking of St. Therese of Lisieux, July 7, 2003

By 

History Lover (New Hyde Park, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light of the Night: The Last Eighteen Months in the Life of Th'r'se of Lisieux (Paperback)

Father Six has rescued Therese from the excessive sentimentality foisted on the world by her sister Pauline (Mother Agnes) and the Lisieux Carmel. He has shown us the real Therese, a giant of the spiritual life. By showing how even the change of one word by Pauline altered the meaning of her work, we are able to finally arrive at a portrait of Therese that is true. Her emphasis on love which is the core of her teaching is given its proper place by Father Six's reinterpretation. This is a valuable book for those who wish to experience the real Therese.